Marle
Marle (marl) is an almost forgotten manure within Great Britain being a rich source of calcium carbonate and clays, often in fairly balanced quantity, was widely used as a valued limestone manure source in those areas that it was found or was most abundant. For hundreds of years, marlestone (marlstone) had been known & used as a valued manure and during the 18th century it was advocated to the farming fraternity to seek out and widely use this rich source of manure. Many areas, roads and buildings take their name from a local marle source such as Marle Hill, Marle pits, Marle Road, Marle Inn etc. On country walks you may happen across unknown holes or hollows, these are probably the marle pits of yesteryear, perhaps even dug by the Romans or Saxons, used by them perhaps more extensively than farmers in more modern centuries.
Several kinds of marle can be distinguished and the deeper it lies beneath the ground, the more pure it is.
A fine quality marle is soft to the touch and has a fine chalk like feel, almost a damp chalk powder feel when spread between the fingers. Those of you that dig the earth for any reason will on occasion have found a soft like clayey soil that felt very different to other soils and clays, this is marle.
An ancient farming book states that '' In order to be more confirm'd, let him throw a piece of it into a bason of water, and he will find it swell like Fullers earth, and crumble in the same manner of itself to pieces. Also, a pure marle will crackle when thrown into a fire. This is a certain confirmation. The harder and more compact kinds break slower, the soft and loose ones quicker, some almost immediately. But in whatever manner it happens, this joined to the others, is a sure proof that the earth under examination is a marle: and let him who has fallen by chance upon a piece of it, dig in search of the treasure''.
During the eighteenth century, marle was used extensively in some counties as muck was used in others, yet, farmers in counties which didn't use marle hardly knew what it was.
The known colours of marle being yellow, blue, white, red and a rarer black, a finer to coarser quality being found in each colour. Red marle has always been known to be fairly common in Warwickshire, Kent and Sussex, blue in Buckinghamshire and white marle was known in Worcestershire, although varied counties throughout Britain contained marle of differing quality.
The white or whitish variations were known to be the softest and used for pasture ground whilst the blue, the heaviest. Red and yellow are between the white and blue for courseness but by no means inferior or better.
It was advised that the softest marles be used for pasture as these dissolve more readily and the harder marles be used where tillage assists in the spreading and breaking up. Therefore, if the heavier kind is used on corn land, spread it early in the season, the weather helping it to mellow before the last ploughing. If using the lighter or more crumbly kinds it may go on the ground or pasture later on as it will dissolve almost immediately.
The colour of marle was not especially an indication as to it's purity but the substance of it was. Stony marles, loamy, clayey and sandy marles were considered the different qualities. Stony marles, not necessarily with stones in it, is almost shaley but breaks up quite powdery when wet. There is a grey marle such as this in the Forest Of Dean.
From the varied qualities, it was said that the greyish and yellowish of the more impure marles are the most common and break up readily with the weather when spread upon the ground. The yellowish marles are known to be a sandy marle which benefited a clay ground by the sand helping to open up the substance and was classified as the better kind. Loamy marles, next in value, were very useful if applied using the right technique.
In Northamptonshire there was a stony loam marle called penny earth that when broken up contained many shells, some looking like money, hence the name.
Warwickshire was known as perhaps the county that most widely used marle and a farmer within the county used to spread his stony marle on his ground and there break it up with hammers for the weather to powder it.
An Eighteenth century farming book states that ''In Cheshire they have a marle of the stony kind, which they call slate marle; they give it this name because it splits in the manner of slates into flat thin pieces; they have this of all the common colours, and it is much the same whether red, yellow whitish or blue''.
In Buckinghamshire they have a very rich marle of the purer kind, and of a mixed nature between the blue and red; the red making the body of the mass, and the blue being disposed in streaks and veins. This was known by the farmers as being one of the fattest kinds and is the same type that is so much esteemed in Kent for sandy land.
In Warwrickshire they have a blue and red marle of a stiffer kind which does not do well on pasture lands, but excellently on sandy corn grounds.
In Staffordshire on the borders of Cheshire, a kind of stony marle, which always breaks in a kind of square pieces; this they call dice marle. It is usually yellowish, rarely red or blue. Though stony at first, mellows, softens and falls to pieces with the sun and rains; and they are greatly esteemed by the farmers. They have in the same places a clayey marle, but they find those clog the lands after their enriching effect is over; whereas these leave it better than it was before they were employed, even after their enriching virtue is gone.
In Shropshire, and that part of Cheshire which borders on it, they have dusky brownish blue marle, streaked and spotted with a cleaner blue and with white: this they call cowshut marle. This is to be equal to the blue marles of the purer kinds.
In Staffordshire there is a perculiar kind of stony marle, which they call shale marle there as well as in Cheshire, where it is also found in abundance. This is of a greyish or ash colour, and seems a mere sandstone, but it breaks freely enough. ''They do not use this (18th C) so generally as they might, but where they do, it turns to a very good account. If the farmer finds a bluish grey sandstone in his grounds, let him try whether it does not moulder in the air, or crackle in the fire, and if so, let him see to make a better use of it than they do in many places in this county, where they absolutely throw it away''.
In Cheshire they dig a marle of a dusky colour and tough substance very unlike the other kinds; this they call peat marle. It is one of those that is debased by the admixture of clay.This kind is also found in Shropshire. In Cheshire they use it as a manure and if laid upon sharp sandy land yields good results but in Shropshire they made bricks from it.
In Cheshire also, and in Staffordshire, and some other of the neighbouring counties they have a stiff, yellowish colour marle and call it Clay marle which lie in very deep beds. It is full of sand and pebbles in the upper part of the bed which is within a foot of the surface, but it is pure below. The farmers are not so well aquainted with it. This is a clayey kind and they use it on the worst lands with very great success. Also in this county they have a kind of marle called Paper marle, this lies in leaves, and is a very pure and rich kind.
In Cheshire there is also a marle particular to this county, called Steel marle which is a dusky colour, spotted with red, and sometimes with blue. It is very hard and when struck with a hammer, shatters into square pieces. This stony marle is the same as the dice marle found in Northamptonshire although differing slightly in colour.
Stony marles were considered somewhat valuable because of their lasting effect. The fatty and crumbly kinds enrich the grounds more quickly; but it is these hard ones that give that fruitfulness which lasts many years; after it has served the purpose of the tenant enriching the landlord.
It had been noted that some of the hard marles especially of the whiter kinds, that after its fruitfulness was over, it was very hard to make the ground as fertile again.
An experienced user of steel or diced marle observed, ''The manner in which this kind of marle divides when laid upon the ground. First, the large lumps lie like so much lumber of which the land should be cleared: after this one sees all the surface of the field spread over with corner'd pieces of some considerable bigness: then after a little more effect of the weather, it lies everywhere in bits like dice, many of them very small; and after this it is blended with the mould, and altogether lost. Then it is that its full virtue and efficacy are seen in the crop ''.
It was said that very few lands could not be improved by marling. There are many kinds of marles to be suited to the varied kinds of soils which could be spoiled if this was not attended to correctly. In parts of Cheshire they have a practice of laying large quantities of marle to the acre that they may be said to add soil rather than improve what was there before, which they thus work it for twenty to thirty years. For the first years they ploughed very shallow, no more than an inch of soil for fear of burying the marle, going deeper in the following years.
The sandy soil requires marling the most, the yellow clay kind being the most appropriate. Most clayey marles may be fit for the sandy soil, the clay binding the light soil together and generally enriching the soil. The more sandy the soil, the more clayey must be the marle.
Loamy soil on top of clay or a clay loam benefits from marle greatly. Marle for this land must be the finest, as a clay or sandy marle would only increase the original composition of the soil adding to the deficit that may already exist. A pure blue marle and next the pure yellow answers best for this soil.
The pure marles are all fatty, whilst the mixed kinds, clayey, sandy, loamy, stony etc gives an indication of which lands to spread it upon. A sandy marle mixed with a sandy soil would add to the problem, the rain would also wash away the best part of the marle as it would with a stony marle once it has broken down. The clay marle would bind the sandy soil together enriching it for many years, thus the sensible use of the right marle to suit the soil is a most important consideration.
Pasture land requires the finest grade of marle so that it is washed into the top soil straight away. The heavier or clay marles would lay upon the surface far too long offering no benefit to the grass or the wallet.
New ploughed land, even though it may be loamy, may still be marled with great enriching success. Gravelly soils may be marled similar to the sandy soils. Once marled, muck will stay within the soil more readily than otherwise, so benefiting in two ways as the rains would soon wash away nutrients in a gravelly soil so manured on its own. Chalky soil was not usually marled because of the similarity of the two but a pure red or pure blue marle can be used to great effect. As the chalky soil is a dry soil the fatty marle will help to correct the dryness of the chalk. Gravelly soil requires a clayey marle and it was said no other would suit. The clay soils was supposed to be improper for marling, the old saying, ''He that marles clay, throws all away''. That said and done, a clay soil mixed with a clay marle is not a good idea but a sandy marle used on clay soil would benefit it greatly as would all the other marls bar the clay one.
The quantity of marle spread upon the land may vary depending upon soil condition but a hundred loads per acre is a usual amount and it was said that if the ground after fair weather looks white as hoar frost, then the mix was right. In parts of cheshire they used to lay sixteen hundred load of marle to the acre but this is to be frowned upon as the idea is to mix marle into the soil and not soil into the marle.
The time of application is rather important. If the hard and stony kinds are used these should be laid early in the season followed by the clayey sorts but the pure and sandy marles are to be lain very late. Some areas burned the stony marles making a weak kind of lime which should be spread at fifty loads to the acre. Some also piled stony marle into heaps and spreading it when it had broken into smaller pieces. The art of marle spreading, especially the pure kinds was to lay it in heaps or loads, equal distance from each other as soon as it was dug from the pit, then spread evenly and well mixed with the soil in an even and level manner within the tilth as soon as was possible after digging it from the pit.
On a hard binding ground the best time to marle was the beginning of winter; a light loose soil, the spring or summer was suffice but the consideration of the state of the marle was the most important.
A variety of tools were used to dig out the marle from the ground or pit. The heavy fork in the title picture is an early blacksmith made tool used for loosening and digging out a stony marle on the Shropshire/Welsh borders. Note the feathering on the tang, to hold the fork securely in the handle.
The heavy blacksmith made stone rake in the other title picture was used in Gloucestershire for spreading marle in the field.
The blacksmith made flat tined graip was also used in Gloucestershire for dragging marle from the cart once in the field.
A picture of a marling spade will be added at a later date.
Marle (marl) is an almost forgotten manure within Great Britain being a rich source of calcium carbonate and clays, often in fairly balanced quantity, was widely used as a valued limestone manure source in those areas that it was found or was most abundant. For hundreds of years, marlestone (marlstone) had been known & used as a valued manure and during the 18th century it was advocated to the farming fraternity to seek out and widely use this rich source of manure. Many areas, roads and buildings take their name from a local marle source such as Marle Hill, Marle pits, Marle Road, Marle Inn etc. On country walks you may happen across unknown holes or hollows, these are probably the marle pits of yesteryear, perhaps even dug by the Romans or Saxons, used by them perhaps more extensively than farmers in more modern centuries.
Several kinds of marle can be distinguished and the deeper it lies beneath the ground, the more pure it is.
A fine quality marle is soft to the touch and has a fine chalk like feel, almost a damp chalk powder feel when spread between the fingers. Those of you that dig the earth for any reason will on occasion have found a soft like clayey soil that felt very different to other soils and clays, this is marle.
An ancient farming book states that '' In order to be more confirm'd, let him throw a piece of it into a bason of water, and he will find it swell like Fullers earth, and crumble in the same manner of itself to pieces. Also, a pure marle will crackle when thrown into a fire. This is a certain confirmation. The harder and more compact kinds break slower, the soft and loose ones quicker, some almost immediately. But in whatever manner it happens, this joined to the others, is a sure proof that the earth under examination is a marle: and let him who has fallen by chance upon a piece of it, dig in search of the treasure''.
During the eighteenth century, marle was used extensively in some counties as muck was used in others, yet, farmers in counties which didn't use marle hardly knew what it was.
The known colours of marle being yellow, blue, white, red and a rarer black, a finer to coarser quality being found in each colour. Red marle has always been known to be fairly common in Warwickshire, Kent and Sussex, blue in Buckinghamshire and white marle was known in Worcestershire, although varied counties throughout Britain contained marle of differing quality.
The white or whitish variations were known to be the softest and used for pasture ground whilst the blue, the heaviest. Red and yellow are between the white and blue for courseness but by no means inferior or better.
It was advised that the softest marles be used for pasture as these dissolve more readily and the harder marles be used where tillage assists in the spreading and breaking up. Therefore, if the heavier kind is used on corn land, spread it early in the season, the weather helping it to mellow before the last ploughing. If using the lighter or more crumbly kinds it may go on the ground or pasture later on as it will dissolve almost immediately.
The colour of marle was not especially an indication as to it's purity but the substance of it was. Stony marles, loamy, clayey and sandy marles were considered the different qualities. Stony marles, not necessarily with stones in it, is almost shaley but breaks up quite powdery when wet. There is a grey marle such as this in the Forest Of Dean.
From the varied qualities, it was said that the greyish and yellowish of the more impure marles are the most common and break up readily with the weather when spread upon the ground. The yellowish marles are known to be a sandy marle which benefited a clay ground by the sand helping to open up the substance and was classified as the better kind. Loamy marles, next in value, were very useful if applied using the right technique.
In Northamptonshire there was a stony loam marle called penny earth that when broken up contained many shells, some looking like money, hence the name.
Warwickshire was known as perhaps the county that most widely used marle and a farmer within the county used to spread his stony marle on his ground and there break it up with hammers for the weather to powder it.
An Eighteenth century farming book states that ''In Cheshire they have a marle of the stony kind, which they call slate marle; they give it this name because it splits in the manner of slates into flat thin pieces; they have this of all the common colours, and it is much the same whether red, yellow whitish or blue''.
In Buckinghamshire they have a very rich marle of the purer kind, and of a mixed nature between the blue and red; the red making the body of the mass, and the blue being disposed in streaks and veins. This was known by the farmers as being one of the fattest kinds and is the same type that is so much esteemed in Kent for sandy land.
In Warwrickshire they have a blue and red marle of a stiffer kind which does not do well on pasture lands, but excellently on sandy corn grounds.
In Staffordshire on the borders of Cheshire, a kind of stony marle, which always breaks in a kind of square pieces; this they call dice marle. It is usually yellowish, rarely red or blue. Though stony at first, mellows, softens and falls to pieces with the sun and rains; and they are greatly esteemed by the farmers. They have in the same places a clayey marle, but they find those clog the lands after their enriching effect is over; whereas these leave it better than it was before they were employed, even after their enriching virtue is gone.
In Shropshire, and that part of Cheshire which borders on it, they have dusky brownish blue marle, streaked and spotted with a cleaner blue and with white: this they call cowshut marle. This is to be equal to the blue marles of the purer kinds.
In Staffordshire there is a perculiar kind of stony marle, which they call shale marle there as well as in Cheshire, where it is also found in abundance. This is of a greyish or ash colour, and seems a mere sandstone, but it breaks freely enough. ''They do not use this (18th C) so generally as they might, but where they do, it turns to a very good account. If the farmer finds a bluish grey sandstone in his grounds, let him try whether it does not moulder in the air, or crackle in the fire, and if so, let him see to make a better use of it than they do in many places in this county, where they absolutely throw it away''.
In Cheshire they dig a marle of a dusky colour and tough substance very unlike the other kinds; this they call peat marle. It is one of those that is debased by the admixture of clay.This kind is also found in Shropshire. In Cheshire they use it as a manure and if laid upon sharp sandy land yields good results but in Shropshire they made bricks from it.
In Cheshire also, and in Staffordshire, and some other of the neighbouring counties they have a stiff, yellowish colour marle and call it Clay marle which lie in very deep beds. It is full of sand and pebbles in the upper part of the bed which is within a foot of the surface, but it is pure below. The farmers are not so well aquainted with it. This is a clayey kind and they use it on the worst lands with very great success. Also in this county they have a kind of marle called Paper marle, this lies in leaves, and is a very pure and rich kind.
In Cheshire there is also a marle particular to this county, called Steel marle which is a dusky colour, spotted with red, and sometimes with blue. It is very hard and when struck with a hammer, shatters into square pieces. This stony marle is the same as the dice marle found in Northamptonshire although differing slightly in colour.
Stony marles were considered somewhat valuable because of their lasting effect. The fatty and crumbly kinds enrich the grounds more quickly; but it is these hard ones that give that fruitfulness which lasts many years; after it has served the purpose of the tenant enriching the landlord.
It had been noted that some of the hard marles especially of the whiter kinds, that after its fruitfulness was over, it was very hard to make the ground as fertile again.
An experienced user of steel or diced marle observed, ''The manner in which this kind of marle divides when laid upon the ground. First, the large lumps lie like so much lumber of which the land should be cleared: after this one sees all the surface of the field spread over with corner'd pieces of some considerable bigness: then after a little more effect of the weather, it lies everywhere in bits like dice, many of them very small; and after this it is blended with the mould, and altogether lost. Then it is that its full virtue and efficacy are seen in the crop ''.
It was said that very few lands could not be improved by marling. There are many kinds of marles to be suited to the varied kinds of soils which could be spoiled if this was not attended to correctly. In parts of Cheshire they have a practice of laying large quantities of marle to the acre that they may be said to add soil rather than improve what was there before, which they thus work it for twenty to thirty years. For the first years they ploughed very shallow, no more than an inch of soil for fear of burying the marle, going deeper in the following years.
The sandy soil requires marling the most, the yellow clay kind being the most appropriate. Most clayey marles may be fit for the sandy soil, the clay binding the light soil together and generally enriching the soil. The more sandy the soil, the more clayey must be the marle.
Loamy soil on top of clay or a clay loam benefits from marle greatly. Marle for this land must be the finest, as a clay or sandy marle would only increase the original composition of the soil adding to the deficit that may already exist. A pure blue marle and next the pure yellow answers best for this soil.
The pure marles are all fatty, whilst the mixed kinds, clayey, sandy, loamy, stony etc gives an indication of which lands to spread it upon. A sandy marle mixed with a sandy soil would add to the problem, the rain would also wash away the best part of the marle as it would with a stony marle once it has broken down. The clay marle would bind the sandy soil together enriching it for many years, thus the sensible use of the right marle to suit the soil is a most important consideration.
Pasture land requires the finest grade of marle so that it is washed into the top soil straight away. The heavier or clay marles would lay upon the surface far too long offering no benefit to the grass or the wallet.
New ploughed land, even though it may be loamy, may still be marled with great enriching success. Gravelly soils may be marled similar to the sandy soils. Once marled, muck will stay within the soil more readily than otherwise, so benefiting in two ways as the rains would soon wash away nutrients in a gravelly soil so manured on its own. Chalky soil was not usually marled because of the similarity of the two but a pure red or pure blue marle can be used to great effect. As the chalky soil is a dry soil the fatty marle will help to correct the dryness of the chalk. Gravelly soil requires a clayey marle and it was said no other would suit. The clay soils was supposed to be improper for marling, the old saying, ''He that marles clay, throws all away''. That said and done, a clay soil mixed with a clay marle is not a good idea but a sandy marle used on clay soil would benefit it greatly as would all the other marls bar the clay one.
The quantity of marle spread upon the land may vary depending upon soil condition but a hundred loads per acre is a usual amount and it was said that if the ground after fair weather looks white as hoar frost, then the mix was right. In parts of cheshire they used to lay sixteen hundred load of marle to the acre but this is to be frowned upon as the idea is to mix marle into the soil and not soil into the marle.
The time of application is rather important. If the hard and stony kinds are used these should be laid early in the season followed by the clayey sorts but the pure and sandy marles are to be lain very late. Some areas burned the stony marles making a weak kind of lime which should be spread at fifty loads to the acre. Some also piled stony marle into heaps and spreading it when it had broken into smaller pieces. The art of marle spreading, especially the pure kinds was to lay it in heaps or loads, equal distance from each other as soon as it was dug from the pit, then spread evenly and well mixed with the soil in an even and level manner within the tilth as soon as was possible after digging it from the pit.
On a hard binding ground the best time to marle was the beginning of winter; a light loose soil, the spring or summer was suffice but the consideration of the state of the marle was the most important.
A variety of tools were used to dig out the marle from the ground or pit. The heavy fork in the title picture is an early blacksmith made tool used for loosening and digging out a stony marle on the Shropshire/Welsh borders. Note the feathering on the tang, to hold the fork securely in the handle.
The heavy blacksmith made stone rake in the other title picture was used in Gloucestershire for spreading marle in the field.
The blacksmith made flat tined graip was also used in Gloucestershire for dragging marle from the cart once in the field.
A picture of a marling spade will be added at a later date.
Natural manures - Marle
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Natural manures
A heavy, early flat tined graip used for dragging marle from the cart.
